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Monday, 31 March 2014

C-FVAM has departed Anchorage bound for Anadyr with a planned en route time of 5 hours and 42 minutes.

Pictured below at the FIDAE 2014 Exhibition in Santiago, Chile is FAC 939, belonging to the Chilean Air Force. The aircraft was delivered new from the factory in Downsview in January 1967. The second photo captures the Lexan roll up door used for jump and airdrop operations that is supplied by Ikhana Group.

At an age just a little short of 50 years old, AB583 remains part of the Peruvian Navy fleet, attached to the Coast Guard. The aircraft was built in August 1965, and was the Twin Otter demonstrator airframe through 1966 when it went to Northern Consolidated Airlines in Alaska. Before leaving North America it went on to fly with Wien Consolidated, Alaska Aeronautical, Ptarmigan Airways, Shirley Air and Carter Air Service & then on to Peru in 1995.

On a totally different note, Flightaware is indicating a SXA1099 operating from Nome, AK to Anchorage, AK today, filed as a Twin Otter. In looking at it a bit closer I noted that inbound to Nome last night as SX1099 and SXA1100 were two arrivals from Anadyr-Ugolny, but this time filed as Harbin Y-12's, which is often referred to as a Chinese Twin Otter.

Not precisely sure at this point what is going on with the two above, particularly given that 885 was filed only a couple days ago for delivery. Both aircraft have already been to Ikhana for their work packages (872 should still be in Murrieta)- so I might assume the transfer of registry relates to the impending delivery to Vietnam.

Tuesday, 25 March 2014

Well, joining the flight plan for C-FVAT that didn't operate yesterday, today's for C-FVAM was also a non-starter. Given the nature of the ferry flights, weather, routings & overflight clearances, such changes are not uncommon. We'll watch for what appears tomorrow.

On a more positive note, the next Series 400 to depart the paint shop in Spokane is about 30 minutes out of Victoria as this is written;

896 - DHC-6-400 C-GLVA Viking Air Ltd., Sidney, BC

25-Mar-2014

Spokane, WA (KGEG/GEG) - Victoria, BC (CYYJ/YYJ)

As the days begin to get longer again, hopefully Tim will be able to photograph the upcoming arrivals from Spokane a bit more easily!

C-GVEP has departed Altenrhein today after having been there since Sep-2013. The aircraft has been flown over to Bratislava, Slovakia - given that it has just come out of maintenance, one would assume that the visit is for a repaint.

884 - DHC-6-400 C-FVAM Viking Air Ltd., Sidney, BC

25-Mar-2014Planned

Victoria, BC (CYYJ/YYJ) - Anchorage, AK (PANC/ANC)

Today we have a flight plan for the delivery of 884 C-FVAM, which appears to have replaced the planned ferry of 884 C-FVAT below. When (if) the plan becomes active, I will update this entry. C-FVAM is bound for the Vietnam Navy, where it is expected to become VNT-772.

885 - DHC-6-400 C-FVAT Viking Air Ltd., Sidney, BC

Yesterday's flight plan for this one never became active, and then disappeared by mid-afternoon, so it is presumably still in Victoria.

Monday, 24 March 2014

Planned for departure today is aircraft number three for the Vietnam Navy, where it is expected to become VNT-778.

Pictured below at Altenrhein, Switzerland (LSZR/ACH) earlier today is MSN 881 C-GVEP, which had arrived there on 08-Sep-2013 following an extensive demonstration tour in Russia. The aircraft has been undergoing pre-delivery modifications before returning to Russia.

Saturday, 22 March 2014

Aurora Airlines was formed in November 2013 as the amalgamation of Aeroflot's two primary carriers in the Russian far east, SAT Airlines & Vladivistok Avia. Pictured in the schematic below is a Viking Series 400 Twin Otter which will be part of the Aurora fleet.

Maldivian (Island Aviation Services dba) of Male is set to receive their first DHC-6-300 Twin Otter soon. The aircraft, 8Q-IAL (MSN 358) is pictured below in Calgary, and I would expect it will revert to its Canadian ident C-GXWG prior to delivery.

Maldivian had issued Expression of Interest documents on 03-Nov-2013 for an equity partner to begin float plane operations, with the investor being responsible for supply of aircraft, and then a subsequent revenue sharing agreement for their operation.

Thursday, 20 March 2014

VH-XFM was positioned over to Cairns, QLD on 17-Feb-2014, and was expected to be exported following its acquisition by Vancouver-based Gravitas Aviation. However, after remaining at Cairns through 09-Mar-2014, the aircraft returned to Western Australia and over the past few days at least has settled in to a regular schedule from Karratha, primarily to Barrow Island. It remains registered to Fortescue Metals Group, operated by Helibits Pty Ltd.

From my Information Required post of 13-Mar-2014 regarding the aircraft seen below, there has to date been no confirmation of the actual identity. What has been determined is that the aircraft would likely be attached to the 427th Special Operations Squadron. Although the home of the 427th is Pope AFB in North Carolina, their aircraft are often noted at military and civilian sites in Nevada.

Although without confirmation, it is expected that 66003 is possibly either MSN 503 (N504WJ) or MSN 562 (N562CP)

MSN ? - DHC-6 66003Henderson, NV 14-Feb-2014Aidan Curley Photo

Yesterday, for a time I had posted a correction to the MSN's that belong to Nature Air's TI-BFN and TI-BFO. Considerable effort by Dave Thirlwall had gone into determining that the MSN's had likely been reversed in the information that was previously published in a variety of sources. Late in the day, after learning that the original information had come direct from Nature Air, I removed the post.

Today, I am going to add the revised information once again, as there is sufficient data/photographs available to question the validity of that original information;

556 - DHC-6-300 N241SA Diamond Bar LLC, Kirkland, WA

Registration cancelled 21-Nov-2013 to TI-BFO

772 - DHC-6-300 N189GC Cortez Fisher LLC, Kirkland, WA

Registration cancelled 21-Nov-2013 to TI-BFN

TI-BFN has since gone on to be damaged in a landing accident at La Fortuna, Costa Rica on 02-Jan-2014 as can be seen in the photographs below

A nice couple of contributed photographs that depict the extent of Zimex Aviation's operation in Algeria, with six aircraft on the ground in February 2014

Lastly a nice shot of MSN 668 HK-2439 in SAM Colombia colours, at San Andres in Jan-1997

Wednesday, 19 March 2014

A recent photograph of N169TH taken at Toledo, WA (located just off I-5 between Longview and Olympia). This aircraft is registered to a Kailua-Kona, HI address but has been present at Toledo since at least 2010.

Thursday, 13 March 2014

The aircraft below was photographed at Henderson, Nevada on 14-Feb-2014; if anyone is able to provide the identity (MSN) it would be appreciated. Can be sent to DHC6300 "at" gmail.com - and anonymously is fine. I have my suspicions on two possibilities, but a confirmation would be nice.

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